Window curtain or shade.



I PATBNTED JAN. 8, 1907. E.T.BELL.. WINDOW CURTAIN OR SHADE.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. 2, 1906.

THE'NO-GRIS PEI! A n UNITED STATES PATENT onnioa Enos r. BELL, or SPICELAND, mount, nssienon orrwo-rninns To ULIVER STEELE AND LUTHER O. DRAPER, OFSPICELAND, INDIANA.

WINDOW GU'RTAIN OR SHADE.

Patented ran. 8, I907;

1 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Enos T. BELL, a citizen of the United States, residing at Spiceland, the county of Henry and State ofIndiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in W indow Curtains or Shades, of which the following is a specification, reference being had therein to the accompanying drawings,

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in attachments for window. curtains or shades whereby the curtain is suspended by a suitable cord depending from a. pulley situated at or above the top portion of the window, so that saidcurtain may be raised or lowered to any desired position in front of the window to which it is a plied xwithout unrolling or unfurlin t e same', as will be hereinafter more fully set forth,. and particularly pointed out in the claims.

. ,.The objectof this invention is to provide anattachment or attachments in connection with a window-curtain whereby the position 2 5 of the latter will be" capable of being adjusted either to a lower or 'amore elevated position without unfurling orunrolling the curtain; also, to provide a curtain-roller that may be attached to the bottom free end of the depending curtain in such a manner and by suitable roller winding and checking mechanism that the curtain may be readily-rolled from its bottom end independently of the means for elevating or lowering said curtain, so that any required area or exposed surface of the curtain may be moved upwardly or downwardly into any position in front of the window to cover any portion thereof to shut out the direct raysof the sunlight, while the diffused or refracted light may freely pass through the uncovered portion of the window elther over or under the curtain, or both. I attain these objects by means of the arrangement of the window-curtain and its attachments illustrated in the accompanying drawings, inwhich similar numerals of reference designate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is an elevational' view of my invention of a window curta'in applied to a window. Fig, 2 is aside elevational view of the same, showing the-window in section. Fig. 3-is an enlarged detail view of the pulley whereby the S'uSpeIld-i Hg -C'Ordof the curtain iscarried.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail end view of the pawl end of the curtain-roller, showingthe pawl n engagement with the pawl pins or catches of the curtain-roller. Fig 5 is a similar view released from its retainingepawl ready tobe elevated to rollor lowered to-unroll the curtain, and Fig. 6 is allongitudinal broken part sectional view of thegpawl end of the roller, and looking in the direction of the arrow a.. (See Figs. i a'nd 5L) The curtain 1 is provided with a suitable stretching-bar- 2, similar to the bars-usually applied to the bottom ends of the ordinary curtains, to which is connected a cord 3',

whereby the window-curtain is suspended in front of a window." The suspension-cord pulley 4, wherebythe suspension-cord 3- is carried, is situated central-1y above or at the.

top portion of thewindowto'which the curtain is. to be applied, and said pulley is preferably provided with cord-grooves 5, which are inclined or lead fromthe smaller central portion of the pulley to the larger end portions thereof,

so that when the cord: 3' is directed perpendicularly and toward'the central smaller diameter of the pulleythe cord will freely pass around the center of said pulleyto lower the curtain and will have no tendency tofollow either of the. grooves of. the pulley. to climb the larger end portions thereof but immediately the depending slack end ofthe cord 3 is guided or directed to either side of said pul-. ley said pulley will immediately follow that outwardly-inclined side to which it is irected-and will climb, with the assistance of the guiding-fingerfi, that larger end of the cord-pulley to which it is directed to be locked or wedged between groove situatedat the the larger diameter of the pulley and the root proper carrying out of my invention, as. any

other cord-pulley of approved construction may be manipulated to adjust the positiomof the curtain maybe used. in connection: with my invention; but I prefer to use the abovedescribedcord-pulley, asithe same has been whereby the suspension-cord of the curtain found to be peculiarly adapted to thisinven- 3 tion. .t For the sake of conveniently manipulating the suspension-cord 3 to adjust-the position of the curtain '1 I attach a handle 7 tothe depending: slack. end of said cord, which end of the cord-is of a uiiidat length so that the handle7 will be at all times within easy reach.

'Thegcurtain-roller 8 is secured in the usual or end to the spring-trunnion 10 and atits other end to-the roller 8 in the usual well-known manner to cause the roller 8 to revolve to windsthe curtain uponitself. A thimble 11 is secured on and closesthe open end of the roller 8, and said thimble is provided with a central bore through which the prolonged rectangular end of the spring-trunnion 10 projects and. upon the rounded portion of which this end of theroller turns. A disk 12 is situated adjacent the ,end of the thimble 11, with its face parallel to the end of the thimbl-e. and central with the aXis of the .roller,'and said. disk is secured on the outer ends of the catch or stop pins 13, which project from the end of the thimble 11 and are equally distant from the aXis thereof.

The disk12 is provided with a central round bore through which the prolonged rectangular end otthe trunnion 10 projects to be received by therectangular slot 14 of the arm 15, wherein said-trunnion is locked and held from turn- On the opposite end of said roller 8 is ing;

provided a thimble 16, which is secured on the end thereof, and projecting centrally from the end of said thimble is a round trunnion' 1'7 which is adapted to loosely fit and to turn in the bore or trunnion-bearing formed in the arm 18. The top ends of the arms 15 and 18 are bent inwardly and at right angles,

and the said bent portions or feet of the arms aresecured to the ends of the connect1ng-bar 19, by which latter said arms are held in alinement.

A gravity-pawl 20 is pivotally connected ,at its top pivotal endto the arm 15 by a stud \.or ..pivotal pin 21, secured on said arm inter- .mediate the center of the trunnion 10 and the 50 top end of the arm, and said pawl has its bottom or engaging end provided with an engaginghook 22, which is adapted to engage either of the stop-pins .1 3when the bar 1 9 is in the po- .sition shown in Fig. 4 to prevent the curtainroller from turning or being turned by its actuating-spring 9 to wind up the curtain. The

*1 pawl 20 is constructed with a shoulder 23,

-which operates as a counterweight, so that the said pawl when the bar 19 is in its upper normal, position, as shown in Fig. 4that is, in contact with the curtain 1the hooked 7 end 22,;of said pawl 20 Will the more readily swing .by its own gravity into position to engage either of the stop-pins 21; A handle 24 is connected to the central portion of the connecting or stop bar 19, and the same is bent or curved to extend under and slightly beyond that side of the curtain-roller the more distant from the roller 8, and said handle is provided for the purpose of the more readily and conveniently tilting said connecting or stop bar and the arms connected thereto into the position shown in Fig. 5 when it is necessary to manipulate the roller 8 to roll or unroll the curtain 1.

When it is desired to raise or lower the curtain 1 as an entirety, the same is readily accomplished bymeans of the suspension-cord 3, and when a greater or less area of curtain. is required to cover a greater or lesser extent of area of the window the curtain is umolled or rolled in the following manner: The handle 24 is first grasped firmly and at the same time is tilted to swing the connecting and stop bar 19 outwardly from the curtain into the position shown in Fig. 2, at the same time moving the handle 24 in a slightly downward direction, or in the direction of the arrow (1, with a sudden movement or jerk, the connecting or stop bar 19, its roller, arms 15 and 18, carrying the roller 8, are carried with it, which movement, it will be readily understood, will slightly revolve the curtain-roller 8 in a direction opposed to the rollers )ring that is, in the direction of the arrow 0 (see Fig. 5)thereby moving the catch-pin 13 with which the hooked end 22 of the pawl 20 e11- gages, which latter swings by its gravity into the position shown in said figure. Now suppose it is required to roll the curtain upthat is, to roll it upon the roller 8the handle 24 is manipulated as previously explained and held firmly in its tilted position to maintain the pawl 20 in its non-engaging position. The curtain-roller will then revolve to roll up the curtain by its actuatingspringthat is, it will revolve in the direction of the arrow b which winding will cause the roller and those parts to ascend, as shown by the direction of the arrow 6. (See Fig. 4.) When a sufiicient amount of the curtain is wound on the roller, the handle 24 is released and the arms 15 and 18, assisted by the action of the rollerspring 9 on the spring-trunnion 10, will turn said trunnion in an opposite direction to that indicated by the arrow b-that is, it will cause. the stop and connecting bar 19 to swing toward that side of the curtain next to the window till the arm 15 has reached a suiiiciently u right position to permit the hooked end 22 o the pawl 20 to swing by its gravity into engagement with one of the stop-pins 13, at which time the said curtain-roller is instantly locked to the arm 15. At this time the roller 8 and the arms 15 and 18 and the connecting or stop bar 19 are equivalent to a single integral piece, since the roller-spring 9 has no influence on the roller 8, so that the gravity of the roller 8, suspended to the end of the curtain at that side of theroller toward the window, will cause the stop or connecting bar 19 to move toward the curtain and remain in contact with said curtain while the hooked end of the pawl 20 is in engagement with either of the stop-pins 13, and all further rotation of the roller 8 will be prevented. The unrolling of the curtain is accomplished in much the same manner, except that after having tilted the handle 24, as previously described, to release the pawl 20 the curtainroller is moved downwardly in the direction of the arrow d'to revolve said roller in the direction of the arrow 0 to unwind or let out the curtain, as shown in Fig. 5. It will be observed that the shoulder 23 of the pawl 20 will operate as a stop to limit the swing of the hook 22, (see Fig. 5,) since said shoulder will contact with the foot of the arm 15, and by I this means the operation of the hook 22 will be more prompt in its movement to engage the stop-pins 13. i

I claim 1. The combination with a depending window-shade, a shade-roller attached to the bottom depending end of said shade, means for automatically operating said roller to roll up said shade, a gravity-pawl for locking said shade-roller at any portion of the length of said shade, a horizontally-extending bar connected to said locking-pawls and situated between the window to which the shade is a plied and the roller of the latter, of a han le connected to a central portion of said horizontally-extending bar and extending under and back of said shade-roller to be accessible to manipulate the screen.

2. The combination with a depending window-curtain, a bar extending across and secured to the top end of said curtain, a suspension-cord connected to said bar whereby said curtain is suspended, a cordulley situated centrally above the top end 0 the window to which said curtain is applied and means for locking said pulley to hold said cord to retain said curtain at any desired height, of a curtain-roller secured to the bottom depending end of said curtain, a roller-actuating spring, an end trunnion connected to said spring and upon which the roller revolves, said trunnion provided with a prolonged rectangular end projecting from the end of said roller, a locking-arm on said trunnion, catches on the end of said roller, a gravity-pawl carried by said arm, a trunnion on the opposite end of said roller, its supporting-arm, an arm-connecting stop-bar and a manipulating-handle secured to said bar to extend under the curtain-roller whereby the said bar and the parts connected thereto may be operated to roll and unroll the curtain.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature 

